Classroom News 

PREP

We hope that you all enjoyed an extra long weekend with your families and managed to get out in the sun! 

In Literacy this week we have continued to learn our spelling rules and have been focusing on reading and understanding Non-Fiction texts. We spent time doing some creative writing pretending we are jockeys at the Melbourne Cup. We wrote about what we would wear, what our horses name would be and what we would hope to win. 

This week in Numeracy we have been looking at ordinal numbers. We have spent time outside doing running races and we rewatched the Melbourne Cup to work out who came 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. 

We are so very excited to head off on our excursion tomorrow to Messy Patch in Mount Duneed! We will be leaving school at approximately 9:15, please make sure that your child is at school before the 8:55 bell so that we can get all our jobs done before we leave. Children are encouraged to wear casual clothes and pack their school bag with all their usual lunch and snacks for the day. 

On Wednesday the 20th of November we have our Prep and 1 fun night. Students will remain at school and be picked up in the loop at 5pm. We can’t wait for an afternoon filled with fun activities! 

“I have really loved doing dictation!” - Belle Hitchings

“ I love doing Heggerty and my sounds and letters!” - Spencer Rancic 

“I have been loving playing in the Gaga Pit and Nature Play and practising my writing on my whiteboard!” - Ezra Foster

“I love playing in the Playground and writing my letters” - Rosie Lidgerwood

Gemma Blake                 gblake@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Meg Knight                     mknight@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 1/2

We hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend and feel ready for the last weeks of our year together! 

A special message for Yr 2 families: On Friday 15th of November the Year 2 students will be heading to the Ballarat Wildlife Park. We will leave at 8:45am and arrive back at 3pm. Students will need to wear school uniform and comfortable shoes for walking. They will also need their hat and sunscreen as it is predicted to be a lovely, sunny day.  Students are also required to bring their lunch and snacks as they would for a normal school day. Please see the post on ClassDojo for more information. Permissions have been sent out on PAM for your approval. 

The Year 1/2 staff are busily preparing for our upcoming excursion around Colac on November 28th. The excursion will tie in with our Inquiry unit this term which is all about making healthy choices so we can have a great life. 

Yr 1s are getting excited for our Prep and Yr 1 Fun Night on November 20th. We are also all going to the Prep to Yr 4 Activity Day with all the other district schools on November 22nd. There is so much to look forward to! Please keep checking PAM and Dojo for further details on each of these events. 

A reminder that Yr 2 will be leading Prayer Gathering on Thursday, 21st November (due to Activity Day on Friday)  and Yr 1 will be on Friday, 29th November. 

What a busy few weeks we will be having with lots of learning happening too!

Judy Carr                        jcarr@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Jodie Hassett               jhassett@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Paula Parish                 pparish@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Emma Roberts            eroberts@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Matt O'Dowd               modowd@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Amanda Delorenzo   mdelorenzo@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

GRADE 3/4

A nice short week is appreciated by all this week, after such a busy week four.

Children across the school have been completing their PAT testing in Reading, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, and Numeracy. PAT is one of the many sources of information that teachers will use to inform their reporting. If your child was absent at all last week, it is important that they attend school this week for catch up tests.

Important dates:

Friday 8th November- Year 4 combined Prayer Gathering

Friday 15th November- Year 3 combined Prayer Gathering

Tuesday 19th November- 3/4 Excursion to Bounce

Friday 22nd November- P-4 Activity Day

Thursday 28th November- Final swimming session

Elissa Rodger                erodger@smcolac.catholic.edu.au  

Deb Holland                   dholland@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Liza Alexander              lalexander@smcolac.catholic.edu.au     

Kascha Blair                   kblair@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Matt Absalom               mabsalom@smcolac.catholic.edu.au   

GRADE 5/6

Students have been working hard this past fortnight completing testing in both literacy and numeracy for our upcoming learning conversations at the end of this term. This week they are completing a cold write on recounts. In the coming weeks we will also have plenty of fun activities to finish such a successful year so keep an eye out for PAM permission forms. 

In the classroom we have been continuing our novel studies on The Black Cockatoo and The Last Bear. Our numeracy units have focused on probability and chance and our inquiry unit has our students planning their own restaurant, from shop design to what’s on the menu. Our religion classes have been focusing on transformation and will continue on to the Jesse tree and the Christmas stories as we draw closer to the end of the year. 

Plenty of sport happening in term 4 at the moment with students participating in basketball, cricket, hotshots and more to come.

Finally, just a reminder as the days get warmer, students have a water bottle and their hats at school every day.

Jade LoRicco                         jloricco@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Rachel Downard                 rdownard@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Leah Martin                          lmartin@smcolac.catholic.edu.au 

Dan Cannon                         dcannon@smcolac.catholic.edu.au

Maegen Potter                   mpotter@smcolac.catholic.edu.au